Biography:

ikkibawiKrrr is a visual research band founded in 2021 that explores multifaceted links between plants and humanity, civilization and natural phenomena, and colonialism and ecology. Its current members are KO Gyeol, KIM Jungwon, and CHO Jieun. In Korean, ikkibawi means “moss-rock” and Krrr is an onomatopoeic word. Mosses live in the thin boundary between air and soil, adapt to their surroundings despite their tiny bodies, and expand their world along other worlds. The fact that the method of survival itself forms a movement, and that this movement sometimes thickens the layer of boundaries, is key to the practice of ikkibawiKrrr. Incorporating the way of mosses in its approach, the collective hopes to circulate its practice beyond individual projects and extend the boundary layer between life and art. Currently ikkibawiKrrr is researching the tropics and seaweeds, while farming and collaborating with local growers. Major exhibitions are Gwangju Biennale, KR (2023), documenta 15, Kassel, DE (2022), Elephant Space (2022), Resbakan: Solidarity Event Lumbung FILM (2022), Suwon public art project, KR (2021).  

Works:

ikkibawiKrrr, Rhapsody, 2024
full HD video and sound, 5 min.
Courtesy of the artists

Inaccessible to humans on a day-to-day basis even as plants and wildlife thrive, the DMZ is a space shaped by paradox. Having so long elided the attention of humankind simply because they never enter it, the space feels hidden, almost like a “gap” of some kind. Here, in this space of tension functioning as a literal buffer zone, plants are sanctioned invaders. In this video work, ikkibawiKrrr presents the landscape of the DMZ, including its flora. The footage captures the sound of artillery shells, symbolizing the ongoing Cold War; trees set aside to be sent to North Korea, though no one can say when; forbidden places and plants; a man playing a leaf flute. The artillery fire we hear is actually coming from a unit stationed near the DMZ. ikkibawiKrrr highlights the plants officially “banned” by the DMZ, imagining a rhapsody that continues to reach for connection.